First Drive Diagnosis

I thought it might be fun and maybe even instructive to look in depth at the 49ers first drive on Friday night, an 11-play, 58-yard march that ended with an Alex Romero 38-yard field goal. It also ended the night for starting quarterback Shaun Hill, who got his requisite 10 to 12 plays in one drive.

Adam Snyder played well in the opener.

Play 1: The Jimmy Raye era begins conservatively, with a simple lead play off right guard. Center Eric Heitmann and guard Tony Wragge don’t get any push and rookie running back Glenn Coffee buries his helmet for a modest 3 yards.

Play 2: Shaun Hill goes back to pass for the first time. The Broncos bring five rushers, including a blitzing safety, while the 49ers put five players into the pattern, so safety McBath comes free. With everyone out in the pattern, it’s only a three-step drop and Hill unleashes his pass in 2.8 seconds – not enough time for McBath to reach him. Hill’s throw finds Vernon Davis 8 yards down field, just between the right hash marks and the numbers. After the catch, Davis alertly turns up field for another 15 yards and the crowd ignites. Is this first pass a harbinger of the future?

Play 3: A simple gap run off right tackle, but Tony Wragge, Eric Heitmann and Chilo Rachal can’t get push, and Coffee is stopped after plunging for 2 yards.

Play 4: After the Coffee run, it’s second-and-8 and Nolan dials up another blitz. It’s a simple five man pressure with the 49ers line shifted to the right in pass protection, it means Denver’s best pass rusher, Elvis Dumervil, is matched up against fullback Zak Keasey. It’s no contest, Dumervil decks Keasey and pounces on an unsuspecting Hill for a 7 yard sack. Keasey tries to cut down the distance between himself and Dumervil, which is what he’s supposed to do, but he doesn’t get himself set and it costs the offense a sack.

Play 5: It’s third-and-13 and it looks like the 49ers’ first drive is going to sputter quickly. The 49ers go with their only multi-receiver set of the drive, calling in Michael Spurlock to line up in the slot on the left side along side Vernon Davis; both Davis and Spurlock are inside of wide receiver Arnaz Battle. Hill goes back in the shot gun; the Broncos set up in a nickel defense with four down linemen. At the snap, defensive lineman Kenny Peterson comes around on a stunt, but instead of rushing he fades into coverage, stepping in front of Coffee’s short route. This defensive strategy is pure Mike Nolan, now the Broncos’ defensive coordinator. He knows Hill likes to look short, even on long downs, so he hopes to dupe Hill into an interception. Hill never looks short instead he sees Davis flying down the field on a post pattern and Hill delivers a well-thrown spiral to Davis between four defenders. For his part Davis never so much makes as head fakes, he simply runs his route quickly, which reminds me of practice during the week. One coach screamed at an unnamed tight end for doing a head-fake while running a post pattern. Davis has done a lot of head fakes in the past, but now it seems coaches want the tight ends at least to get into the secondary quickly, with no frills. Davis makes a solid catch before getting slammed by safety Renaldo Hill. He gets up and emotes of course after the 18-yard gain. Shaun Hill would later say that Davis was the primary receiver after he looked at the coverage during his pre-snap read.

Play 6: It’s first-and-10 at the Broncos’ 39, and Hill calls his first audible. He has wide receiver Arnaz Battle, Vernon Davis and fellow tight end Finley bunched to his left, while the Broncos only have Dumervil, Goodman and a safety deep to cover them. Dumervil is not great and coverage, so Hill probably checked out of a run and went to a pass. At the snap, Dumervil blitzes, now it looks like three receivers and two defenders, but inside linebacker Andre Davis slides over to cover Battle on a short stick route. Davis runs deep but is bracketed by Goodman and the safety, Finley runs a flat route to the sideline and doesn’t get much spacing from Davis, so Goodman has him covered also. Hill takes all this in after his three-step drop, and then starts to see a big white jersey coming for him. It’s defensive end Kenny Peterson, who has beaten guard Tony Wragge. Hill tucks and runs and scampers for 9 yards. It’s an excellent decision by Hill, but again he’s helped by a Nolan zone blitz. Fields goes from his nose guard spot into a zone near the right hash marks, and with one less defensive linemen at the line of scrimmage, Hill finds it easier to take off and run.

Play 7: The 49ers are getting into field goal range and on 2nd-and-1, Nolan counters the 49ers two tight-end set with a standard 3-4 and he has his cornerbacks playing off so they can’t help in run support. Nolan did this often with the 49ers, conservatively warding against the pass in a short-yard situation. The 49ers over load the left side by motioning both tight ends to the left. Even though tight end J.J. Finley goes in motion just before the snap, the 49ers easily collapse the right side of the Denver defense and Coffee picks up an easy 4 yards and the first down behind excellent blocks by Rachal, who knocks back Williams and Heitman who gets a push from the inside.

Play 8: It’s first-and-10 on the Broncos’ 26, and the 49ers try to hit a home run. They call a seven-step drop with max protection and Shaun Hill wants the touchdown. Pre-snap, he sees Josh Morgan locked in press coverage against right cornerback Goodman and Hill wants to take advantage. The Broncos rush five, but the 49ers keep Coffee and Keasey into protect, so it’s five against seven initially. Keasey does an excellent job with blitzing linebacker Mario Hagan, keeping him from Hill, who is staring down Morgan. While Hill retreats and pumps, inside linebackers Williams and Davis realize the guys they are assigned to cover, Keasey and Coffee, are pass protecting, so they come hard. Coffee gets bowled over by Davis, Williams comes in unblocked, and Keasey begins to lose his leverage on Hagan, all three descend on Hill and they sack him after 4.5 seconds!, way too long. Hill is ruled down, but he also fumbles. Hill would later say he got greedy and waited too long for Morgan to beat Goodman. After looking at a still photo of the play, Hill said he should have come off Morgan and gone to Vernon Davis who was the only one open in the three-man route. It’s Hill’s only mistake by it’s a big one.

Play 9: Coffee bursts up the middle for 15 yards. It’s a trap between center Eric Heitmann and guard Tony Wragge. Right guard Chilo Rachal gets enough of a block on Ronald Fields for Coffee to get by, although Coffee has to bust through a Fields’s arm tackle. Center Eric Heitmann gets out on Dumervil and walls him off. Right tackle Adam Snyder takes defensive end McBean all the way across the formation in a crushing block. Vernon Davis does an excellent job on linebacker D.J. Williams and gets enough of him that Coffee is able to break through his arm tackle. Coffee lowers his shoulder 13 yards down field and gets 2 more yards after making contact with safety Renaldo Hill. Wragge nails linebacker Hagan. Coffee really shows well here, he makes enough of a move in the hole to get by Fields, then two steps after breaking his arm tackle, he breaks another one from Williams.

Play 10: The only questionable play call for Raye. The 49ers have two tight ends, two receivers, and Coffee and on third-and-3, Raye calls a straight run off left guard. Heitmann gets stuffed by Fields, and Kenny Peterson pushes Joe Staley back, then moves off his block and nails Coffee for a 1-yard loss. The odds are overwhelming in favor of gaining a first down by passing in that situation. The 49ers have to settle for a field goal.

Davis gets high marks with his two catches and fine block on Coffee’s 15 yard run. He’s intimately involved in all three of the 49ers big plays. Adam Snyder does a fine job in both pass protection and run blocking. Hill is excellent except for his part in the coverage sack. Wragge is a little ragged. Josh Morgan fails to get open quickly at a crucial time, Raye makes good calls and is timing is good, all except for the last play. Rachal looks good; Keasey struggles.

Mike Singletary is his comments to the media Saturday didn’t have an update on the knee sprain to Thomas Clayton nor Keasey’s shattered forearm, but it doesn’t look good for either one of them.